SurVival 1945 - Times of Change 1945

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War the Museum of European Cultures presents the exhibition ‘ÜberLeben – UmbruchZeiten 1945’. The exhibition deals with the end of the war in Berlin, a city positioned between Warsaw and Paris, and where the full range of victory, defeat and liberation was played out at the end of the war.

The exhibition focuses on the image of Berlin, a destroyed city with homeless people from all nations – the ‘displaced persons’, expellees, forced labourers and prisoners of war. Here, for the first time after the end of the Third Reich, people had a chance to organise their lives independently, and to find a way ‘back to normality’.

‘ÜberLeben – UmbruchZeiten 1945’ is the opening exhibition of the Museum of European Cultures at its new location, the ‘Museums in Dahlem: art and cultures of the world’. Under the same roof as the Museum of Ethnology, the Museum of Indian Art and the Museum of East Asian Art, this exhibition is presented in the rooms of the former Gemäldegalerie - Old Master Paintings. The entrance is located in the Arnimalle 25.

Technicians of the Final Solution - Topf und Söhne - The Oven Builders for Auschwitz

Topf & Söhne was a perfectly normal German industrial enterprise - until it became a business partner to the SS. Initially for Buchenwald and then also for other concentration camps, the company produced ovens specifically for burning corpses tailored to the requirements of the SS. Company engineers designed the ventilation system for the Auschwitz gas chambers and otherwise strove to give the SS the best advice on the construction of the death factories. How could it come about that such a respectable company - which otherwise showed no signs of having radical Nazi leanings - should support the SS in the industrial extinguishing of human life?

The exhibition follows the works management, the engineers and fitters from the quite normal world of the Erfurt company into the concentration camps. The initial departure from societal norms down to the outright break with the unspoken rules of civilized behavior is followed step by step.

Designed by the architect and stage designer Hans Dieter Schaal, the exhibits are presented in a matter-of-fact and laconic way: Property left by the company, remains of the Auschwitz ovens, comments of designers and fitters, reports from prisoners, SS documents, and photographs. What is so appalling is not only the ever-optimized technical efficiency of the extermination machinery but far more the absence of morals and the indifference towards their fellow human beings of the Topf & Söhne employees, who assisted mass murder in full knowledge of their actions.
The exhibition was conceived by the Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora in collaboration with the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Auschwitz Museum and sponsored by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes. It is founded on a research project spanning several years, in the framework of which the company archive of Topf & Söhne was analyzed for the first time.

When: 19 June to 18 September 2005
Where: 1st floor of Old Building
Entrance with the regular Museum ticket (5 € reduced rate 2.50 €)

The Aesthetics of Remembrance - Memories a Matter of Opinion?

02/01/2005-12/31/2005
guided city toursStadtmitte

The FührungsNetz is a growing network of guided tours. It hat been developed to accompany you through a selection of the federal capital's museums and exhibitions. Together with you we trace our way through the exhibition rooms and help you, in lively dialogue, to find out more about the objects on show. Our colleagues are all experts from various disciplines. They provide you with background knowledge and detailed information; they support you in your personal discovery and experience; and together with you they bring to light the many links between history and everyday life, between the museum and the city. To us, museums are a living part of our present-day culture.
Our guided tours are availiable in a variety of languages. If desired, we also make arrangements for groups with special needs or interests, and at individually appointed times to help with your planning. If you need more information or would like to book a guided tour, please contact our info-line for the Berlin museums.
Languages: German, English, French, Italian
Duration: 90 minutes
Fee: 115 € for groups / 80 € for Berlin school classes / 100 € for school classes outside of Berlin
Please arrange the tour with:
MD infoline der Berliner Museen
Tel.: +49 (0)30 90 26 99 444
Fax: +49 (0)30 282 61 83
E-mail: info@mdberlin.de
Mon - Fri 9 am - 4 pm
Sat and Sun, holidays 9 am - 1 pm

The Anti-War Museum was reopened in 1982, 15 years after the death of its founder Ernst Friedrich. Today Friedrich's grandson Tommy Spree and a group of volunteers - among them many teachers - take care of the museum's affairs. The museum is acknowledged as a non-profit organisation and lives mostly on donations. Located in the centre of Berlin, at 21, Bruesseler Street, the museum is completed by an art gallery, called the »Peace Gallery« since 1998.

The Anti-War Museum's displays include photographs, documents and objects from the First and Second World War. A large map of the world indicates present day wars and conflicts. The museum addresses Berliners as well as tourists from Germany and abroad. Youth groups and school classes are particularly welcome and will be guided also in the morning hours. Guidance is available in German and English language. To make an appointment call 0049 / (0)30.402 86 91.

Films, discussions, lectures as well as changing exhibitions at the museum and at the Peace Gallery turn every visit into an interesting experience. We offer a variety of brochures and leaflets to look at and to take home. And there are also many books waiting for interested readers. The museum publishes and distributes the brochure »A Museum for Peace« informing about today's Anti-War Museum, Ernst Friedrich's book »War Against War«, documenting World War I with photographs, as well as a biography of the pacifist Ernst Friedrich.